Abila (Decapolis)
Abila (today Quwailiba /قويلبةor Quwailibeh) was an ancient city in present-day Jordan . It is located 13.5 kilometers north of Irbid . The ruins of the city extend over two hills over an area of 1.5 kilometers by 0.5 kilometers. The northern hill is the Tall Abila , the southern Khirbat Umm al-'Amad . The place was since the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. . BC to the Iron Age continuously inhabited. The place was re-founded in the Seleucid period, hence the name Seleukia Abila . According to Polybios , Abila was born in 218 BC. Chr. Under Antiochus III. conquered. At this point, at the latest, they were accepted into the Decapolis .
The road network, aqueducts and a theater (on the northern slope of Khirbat Umm al-'Amad ) have been preserved from Roman times . There are also extensive necropolises laid out as underground chamber graves . They were decorated in different quality ( frescoes ), which allows conclusions to be drawn about the social classes in late antiquity and in Byzantine times. Some of the frescoes reach the level of the painted tombs of Palmyra, but are in poor condition and are neither protected nor restored for tourism. A big problem are grave robbers, who annually destroy an unknown, but probably high number of antiquities.
The period of the most intensive settlement can be proven in the early Byzantine period ( 5th to 7th centuries ). Three basilicas date from this period . During the Islamic period, many buildings from Spolia were built near the theater .
Many remains can still be found in their original state, in the midst of olive groves and wheat fields.
literature
- Essays
- Clarence Menninga: The Unique Church at Abila of the Decapolis . In: Near Eastern Archeology , Vol. 67/1 (2004), pp. 40-49, ISSN 1094-2076
- Avraham Negev : Abila later Seleucia Abila (Tell Abil) Jordan . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
- Books
- Alix Barbet, Claude Vibert-Guigue: Les peintures des nécropoles romaines d'Abila et du nord de la Jordanie . CNRS, Paris 1988-94 (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique; 130).
- John D. Wineland: Ancient Abila. An archeological history . Archaeopress, Oxford 2001, ISBN 1-8417-1274-4 (British Archaeological Reports, International series 989).
Web links
Coordinates: 32 ° 41 ′ N , 35 ° 52 ′ E